Hugh Harman's version of Charles Tazewell's book was the first movie made of it. Clearly, Harman loved the subject, with its simplicity and the sort of heartfelt morality that infused his earlier works, as well as the humility of Tazewell's little parable: that he who gives away what is most precious to him, is the most generous, even if others do not see that.
Technically, this is only partially animated, with many of the sequences moving from master shot to master shot with no in-betweening. Harman was long past the days when he and Rudy Ising had extravagant contracts with MGM for their theatrical releases. This one was released by Coronet, and had a budget to match.
